Rimouski squares up QMJHL Final
Rimouski has evened things up at 2-2 in the QMJHL final series, after a 4-2 win over Quebec on Wednesday night at the Colisée Pepsi.
With a second straight road win, Rimouski has taken back home ice advantage as the President Cup final heads back to the Colisée Financière Sun Life.
Although, being at home has been anything but an advantage to date in this series. The first four games in this year’s QMJHL final have gone to the road team.
For a third straight game in the finals, Quebec opened the scoring as captain Kurt Etchegary got a power play goal only four minutes in. It didn’t take long for that lead to become 2-0, with Nikolas Brouillard registering his own power play marker for the Remparts at 7:49.
Rimouski used a power play to cut into the lead, with Océanic captain Alexis Loiseau scoring his seventh goal of the playoffs. And then, as the seconds counted down in that first period, Michael Joly dropped a pass for Jan Kostalek who drove a slap shot past Quebec goaltender Zachary Fucale to even the score with three seconds left on the clock.
After the Océanic made in-game goaltender changes in the first two games in Rimouski, the tables were turned in the second period on Wednesday.
In the second period, Frédérik Gauthier caused a turnover in the neutral zone, set up Christopher Clapperton for a shot and then put the rebound past Fucale, to give Rimouski the lead for good at 5:30.
Rimouski got an insurance goal from another unlikely source, as defenceman Guillaume McSween stepped into a great Joly feed and fired a shot past Fucale, making it 4-2, and registering his first goal of the playoffs.
Quebec head coach Philippe Boucher called for a goaltender change after that fourth Rimouski goal, with Callum Booth taking over for Fucale. Fucale had allowed four goals on 13 shots over 32 minutes of play.
The Océanic’s stingy defence held the Remparts at bay for the entire third period, holding Quebec’s offense to only five shots in the final period, and only 23 overall. Goaltender Louis-Philip Guindon was perfect after being beaten for two goals in the opening eight minutes of play.
The President Cup final shifts back to Rimouski, with game 5 set for 7 p.m. EDT Friday, May 15th at the Colisée Financière Sun Life.
Both teams in the QMHL final are already guaranteed of participating in the MasterCard Memorial Cup, which will be at Quebec City’s Colisée Pepsi from May 22-31.
